All the buzz in the cricket world is – what is the deal with England ? They have beaten South Africa and West Indies, tied with India (by all rights a game they should have won), survived by the skin of their teeth against Netherlands and lost to Bangladesh and Ireland. A more bizarre set of results could not have been imagined three weeks ago.
Today's game was no exception to the pattern of England games, see-saw, edge of the seat stuff till the last ball was bowled and the last wicket was taken. If this is a cunning plan devised by the likes of Blackadder and Baldrick, then the only thing I can say is that it is working spectacularly. To start with, England left out Anderson (injured), Shahzad (unwell) and Collingwood (form?) and drafted in Tremlett, Luke Wright and Tredwell (who? Bowls? off spin? hmm.. ok), it seemed basically a question of putting 11 fit men on the field rather than any active selection (yes, leaving Yardy out did show some judgement – finally!). West Indies left out Chanderpaul - this is going to ignite a lot of debate in the West Indies as in the context of the match, he was the one man who could have stayed around and got WI over the finish line, and played Bishoo (brave!).
England batted first and started off briskly. Roach bowled with pace but Strauss seemed set and Trott was going at better than run a ball after Prior had departed. However, no England batsmen capitalised on their starts and ultimately they reached 243 as a sum of parts rather than built on a couple of big innings. West Indies fielded with enthusiasm and took a couple of good catches. So far, it seemed to be going West Indies' way and total seemed pretty gettable. One aspect was that the pitch was very dry and the outfield was pretty fast.
West Indies started their innings as if they wanted to win inside of 20 overs. Gayle went berserk and was clubbing 4s and 6s at will, with a particular brutal assault earning 18 off an over (0 4 6 4 4 0). Swann (who opened the bowling with Bresnan) rode out the storm admirably, though it was Tredwell who got the breakthrough. Sammy (captain ? give me a break) took off from where Gayle left and WI continued on their rollicking way. England was in real danger of being shut out of the game in the first 15 overs as WI had a run rate of over 6 and the target was comparatively modest. When a few wickets fell, WI were suddenly five down with a 100 odd on the board when Sarwan and Pollard got together. Pollard took a few balls to settle down and then started to play the big shots he is known for. This is when Swann came back for his second spell and it was he who got Pollard to get a leading edge (shot intended to be played over mid-wicket ballooned between cover and deep cover). Bopara running backwards got his hands to it but could not hold on, and Swann seemed ready to tear his hair out. Luckily for Bopara, Pollard missed the line on a Swann delivery a little later and was out LBW. It was hard to judge who was celebrating more, Swann or Bopara ! With 6 down for 150 and 90 more to get, it seemed like England were finally on the ascendancy, however Andre Russell had other ideas.
Russell seemed like a clone of Pollard and he too seemed to want to finish the match in a hurry. Russell and Sarwan (who was not scoring but not looking in great difficulty either) put on close to 70 runs and suddenly with 20 odd to get and plenty of overs to go, it seemed like a repeat of the England vs Bangladesh match. Earlier, Swann seemed to have got his man when Russell hit down Trott's throat at deep mid-wicket but Trott fell and touched the boundary rope with his shoulder, resulting in a 6 being given. It seemed like the writing was on the wall with a final piece of luck going the Windies way. England were not done yet and Tredwell got into the act by dismissing Russell, but England nerves were still jittery as Sarwan was still around and the target was within striking distance. Swann now returned for his final spell and in one over accounted for Sarwan and Roach in one over. Sarwan got out to a classic off spinner's dismissal (caught at forward short leg when he attempted to tickle a ball to the leg side but the turn defeated him) and Roach slogged and holed out like a good tail-ender of an earlier era (not really, tail ender slogging never seems to go out of fashion!). A last panic run-out meant that England had won and defied their critics and baffled their followers yet again.
For my money, Swann deserved the Man of the Match though it was Tredwell that finally got it – doesn't quality of bowling count over absolute number of wickets ? Swann exhibited tremendous courage under fire when Gayle was running amok at the beginning of the innings and it was Swann who came back every time and put the brakes on the scoring when West Indies were threatening to run away with the match.
The qualifying situation in Group B says that spots may still change if Bangladesh beat South Africa, but I don't think anyone sees that happening. None of the top sides have lost to the lower teams (except for England) and I don't see South Africa succumbing to Bangladesh anytime soon. Famous last words ? time will tell !
Today's game was no exception to the pattern of England games, see-saw, edge of the seat stuff till the last ball was bowled and the last wicket was taken. If this is a cunning plan devised by the likes of Blackadder and Baldrick, then the only thing I can say is that it is working spectacularly. To start with, England left out Anderson (injured), Shahzad (unwell) and Collingwood (form?) and drafted in Tremlett, Luke Wright and Tredwell (who? Bowls? off spin? hmm.. ok), it seemed basically a question of putting 11 fit men on the field rather than any active selection (yes, leaving Yardy out did show some judgement – finally!). West Indies left out Chanderpaul - this is going to ignite a lot of debate in the West Indies as in the context of the match, he was the one man who could have stayed around and got WI over the finish line, and played Bishoo (brave!).
England batted first and started off briskly. Roach bowled with pace but Strauss seemed set and Trott was going at better than run a ball after Prior had departed. However, no England batsmen capitalised on their starts and ultimately they reached 243 as a sum of parts rather than built on a couple of big innings. West Indies fielded with enthusiasm and took a couple of good catches. So far, it seemed to be going West Indies' way and total seemed pretty gettable. One aspect was that the pitch was very dry and the outfield was pretty fast.
West Indies started their innings as if they wanted to win inside of 20 overs. Gayle went berserk and was clubbing 4s and 6s at will, with a particular brutal assault earning 18 off an over (0 4 6 4 4 0). Swann (who opened the bowling with Bresnan) rode out the storm admirably, though it was Tredwell who got the breakthrough. Sammy (captain ? give me a break) took off from where Gayle left and WI continued on their rollicking way. England was in real danger of being shut out of the game in the first 15 overs as WI had a run rate of over 6 and the target was comparatively modest. When a few wickets fell, WI were suddenly five down with a 100 odd on the board when Sarwan and Pollard got together. Pollard took a few balls to settle down and then started to play the big shots he is known for. This is when Swann came back for his second spell and it was he who got Pollard to get a leading edge (shot intended to be played over mid-wicket ballooned between cover and deep cover). Bopara running backwards got his hands to it but could not hold on, and Swann seemed ready to tear his hair out. Luckily for Bopara, Pollard missed the line on a Swann delivery a little later and was out LBW. It was hard to judge who was celebrating more, Swann or Bopara ! With 6 down for 150 and 90 more to get, it seemed like England were finally on the ascendancy, however Andre Russell had other ideas.
Russell seemed like a clone of Pollard and he too seemed to want to finish the match in a hurry. Russell and Sarwan (who was not scoring but not looking in great difficulty either) put on close to 70 runs and suddenly with 20 odd to get and plenty of overs to go, it seemed like a repeat of the England vs Bangladesh match. Earlier, Swann seemed to have got his man when Russell hit down Trott's throat at deep mid-wicket but Trott fell and touched the boundary rope with his shoulder, resulting in a 6 being given. It seemed like the writing was on the wall with a final piece of luck going the Windies way. England were not done yet and Tredwell got into the act by dismissing Russell, but England nerves were still jittery as Sarwan was still around and the target was within striking distance. Swann now returned for his final spell and in one over accounted for Sarwan and Roach in one over. Sarwan got out to a classic off spinner's dismissal (caught at forward short leg when he attempted to tickle a ball to the leg side but the turn defeated him) and Roach slogged and holed out like a good tail-ender of an earlier era (not really, tail ender slogging never seems to go out of fashion!). A last panic run-out meant that England had won and defied their critics and baffled their followers yet again.
For my money, Swann deserved the Man of the Match though it was Tredwell that finally got it – doesn't quality of bowling count over absolute number of wickets ? Swann exhibited tremendous courage under fire when Gayle was running amok at the beginning of the innings and it was Swann who came back every time and put the brakes on the scoring when West Indies were threatening to run away with the match.
The qualifying situation in Group B says that spots may still change if Bangladesh beat South Africa, but I don't think anyone sees that happening. None of the top sides have lost to the lower teams (except for England) and I don't see South Africa succumbing to Bangladesh anytime soon. Famous last words ? time will tell !
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